WebinarsNew
Explore Business Standard
NATO
European Union nations agreed on Friday to open membership talks with Ukraine next week, officially launching the process for the war-torn country to eventually join the world's biggest trading bloc. At a meeting in Brussels, ambassadors from the 27 EU nations decided to officially open negotiations with Ukraine as well as with Moldova, which Russia has also tried to drag back into its orbit, on Monday in Luxembourg. Ukraine sees EU membership as an important "security guarantee" for a stable future once war with Russia ends. Its best guarantee would be NATO membership, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen. Others oppose it joining while fighting continues. Russia is strongly against it, and has cited moves toward NATO membership as a reason for launching its full-scale invasion in 2022, though it has not objected to EU membership for Kyiv. Countries hoping to join the EU must complete negotiations in 35 policy areas, or chapters, ranging from agriculture to trad
A Russian drone that was part of an overnight attack on Ukraine and then went astray slammed into an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people in the NATO member country, Romanian authorities said, adding to concerns that the war could spread across the alliance's borders. The Russian drone was tracked by radar in Romanian airspace and crashed onto the roof of the building in the city of Galati, Romania's Defence Ministry said in a statement. The impact was followed by a fire. The two people suffered minor injuries, and several others were evacuated. The Romanian military scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and a helicopter that were authorised to engage targets, and alert messages were sent to residents of the affected areas. But the aircraft didn't engage or shoot at the drone to bring it down. Romania asked NATO for a faster transfer of anti-drone capabilities to its military, the Foreign Ministry said, calling the drone's flight a serious violation of international
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on his latest mission to assuage nervous US allies in Europe about the Trump administration's intentions with NATO or at least put a friendlier face on whipsawing changes and uncertainty about American troop reductions. Rubio will attend a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Sweden on Friday - the same day senior Pentagon officials are expected to brief the 32-nation alliance on plans for the US military's commitment to European defence at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels. The meeting of diplomats, which precedes a NATO leaders' summit in Turkey in July, comes amid great uncertainty over how the war in Iran will play out and whether stalled US efforts to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict will resume. Resentment also still simmers on the continent over President Donald Trump's criticism of allies and his interest in taking over Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark. Rubio has often been called on to offer a calmer, less ...
President Donald Trump on Thursday said the US will send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, stirring confusion following weeks of changing statements from Trump and his administration about reducing - not increasing - the American military footprint in Europe. The Trump administration has said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and US officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer deploying to Poland. Trump's social media announcement raises more uncertainty for European allies that have been blindsided by the changes as the administration has complained about NATO members not shouldering enough of the burden of their own defense and failing to do more to support the Iran war. "Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland," Trump said on Truth ...
The United States will withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany in the next six to 12 months, the Pentagon said Friday, fulfilling President Donald Trump's threat as he clashes with the German leader over the US war with Iran. Trump had threatened to withdraw some troops from the NATO ally earlier this week after Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the US was being "humiliated" by the Iranian leadership and criticised Washington's lack of strategy in the war. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that the "decision follows a thorough review of the Department's force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theatre requirements and conditions on the ground." The US has several major military facilities in Germany, including the headquarters for US European Command and US Africa Command, Ramstein Air Base, and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American hospital outside the United States. The number of troops leaving Germany would be 14 per cent of the 36,000 .
President Donald Trump on Wednesday levelled a new threat against NATO ally Germany, suggesting he could soon reduce the US military presence there as he continues to feud with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the US-Israel war against Iran. Trump made the threat after Merz earlier this week said that the US was being "humiliated" by the Iranian leadership and criticised Washington's lack of strategy in the war. Trump has also repeatedly railed against NATO for the alliance's refusal to assist the US in its two-month-old war. "The United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time," Trump said in a social media post. Merz had said earlier Wednesday that his personal relationship with Trump remained "as good as ever," but he had "had doubts from the very beginning about what was started there with the war in Iran." During his first term in the White House, Trump also moved to cut US ..
The European Union's ongoing push to bolster its own defensive capabilities isn't intended to spawn an alternative to the NATO alliance but to answer a long-standing US call for the continent to take charge of its own security, the French president said Saturday. Emmanuel Macron said Europe mustn't act to weaken NATO, which connects the continent with its American ally. Instead, Europeans are now stepping up to meet Washington's demand made over the past decade "sometimes nicely, sometimes less nicely" to take care of their own security. "The lesson we must draw is, let us no longer be dependent," Macron said after talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. "We Europeans must strengthen this European pillar of NATO, we must strengthen this Europe of defense - not against anyone, not as an alternative to anything." Mitsotakis echoed the French president, saying the US should be pleased that the EU is taking its own self-reliance seriously and investing more in its own ...